Ryan Rushes To Seek U.s. Cash For Airport

February 27, 2001|By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune Transportation Writer.

Just days after announcing the state will start purchasing land to build a new Chicago-area airport, Gov. George Ryan met privately Monday with the Bush administration's top transportation official to request that the proposed airport near Peotone receive federal funding.

Ryan, who is the first Illinois official to meet with U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta about the region's aviation dilemmas, didn't receive a commitment on the financing, according to officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

But the governor did leave the half-hour meeting in Washington with one concession.

Mineta agreed to press the Federal Aviation Administration to speed up an environmental review of the south suburban airport site, a Ryan spokesman said.

Completion of the environmental assessment is required for the project, which the Clinton administration took off the national airport planning list at the urging of Mayor Richard Daley, to be returned to the roster. A spot on the list makes the project eligible for federal funding.

"I want to thank Secretary Mineta for moving to expedite the environmental review...and I hope the Transportation Department will put this project back on the planning list," said Ryan, who was in the capital for a meeting of the National Governors Association.

An aide to the governor said Mineta promised to complete the environmental study by March 2002.

"Gov. Ryan then asked Secretary Mineta and the FAA to see if the timetable could be expedited further, to this year. They agreed to take a look at that," said Dennis Culloton, Ryan's spokesman.

"There was definitely an acknowledgment that they needed to increase capacity for the Chicagoland region and that last summer's airline delays are likely to be repeated in Chicago and across the country this summer," Culloton said.

Mineta has made a priority of streamlining the environmental review process in an effort to get runways and airports built more quickly to ease the gridlock crisis gripping the nation's largest airports and the air-traffic system. During recent testimony on Capitol Hill, he said he wanted the Peotone review wrapped up as soon as possible.

Woodie Woodward, FAA associate administrator for airports, participated in Monday's meeting and said the agency would have a better idea by August if the review can be finished this year. The process typically takes one to three years, FAA officials said, adding that they began the current stage of the Peotone review in mid-2000.

"Secretary Mineta and his staff told us that we were really the first government officials that he sat down and held a meeting with on the Peotone issue and that he was going to meet soon with the Illinois congressional delegation," Culloton said.

He said Ryan felt the initial meeting with Mineta "went very well."

The governor's former deputy chief of staff, Rich Juliano, who is now working for Mineta as the point person on Peotone, also participated in the meeting, officials said.

Aides said Ryan stressed the importance of restoring Peotone to the airport planning list, which is key to receiving federal construction grants. Eligibility for the grants is important for any airport project to move along toward final approval.

In Peotone's case, being on the list is essential because officials at United Airlines and American Airlines, which control more than 85 percent of the flights at O'Hare, have said they will not pay for a new airport in the region.

The two carriers, along with Daley, favor additional runways at O'Hare to increase capacity in the region.

Mineta told Ryan that he "wanted to investigate further and speak with members of the Illinois delegation before deciding whether to make the Peotone project eligible for federal funding," Culloton said.

Ryan recently phoned Daley to request that the two leaders begin discussions about the aviation gridlock that affects not only travelers, but also the state's economy. Daley agreed to meet with the governor, but a date has not been set, Culloton said Monday.

"They definitely plan on talking," the governor's spokesman said.

In his 2002 budget address last week, Ryan announced he will begin buying land for the Peotone airport, and he asked the legislature to increase state spending on land acquisition to $45 million so that negotiations could begin with interested sellers.

State transportation officials said construction of a small "starter airport" could begin in five years.